6:35 am, January 7, 2009
LEXUS GB dealers will continue to use Manheim’s Portfolio service to retail their national used cars.
The two companies have just signed a 3 year deal to service the approved pre-owned scheme with online and showroom marketing schemes.
This is a continuation of the current scheme which Manheim developed for the lexus.co.uk website.
Services include:
• Nationwide photography of used car stock
• Display of vehicles on a used car locator
• Fleet Direct service for online sourcing of Lexus GB stock
The Lexus partnership with Portfolio has also led to the development two industry-first services:
• ‘Negotiate’
An enhancement of the car locator technology, enabling customers to submit bids against selected cars, generating additional and specific customer leads for respective Lexus Centres.
• ‘Sell Your Lexus’
Allows customers to sell their Lexus via their local Lexus centre – creating opportunities for centres to engage new customers in trading in their vehicle.
Andy Simpson, Lexus GB’s national corporate & remarketing manager, said: ‘We… are delighted at how our investment in Portfolio’s photography services and web-based technologies support the Lexus brand – and have generated a positive return on investment, even in the current economic climate.’
The ‘Negotiate’ tool, he revealed, accounts for a ‘significant proportion’ of used car enquiries. ‘Since its initial launch 11 months ago, we have received over £26.5 million customer bids through the service.
72 per cent, he said, return the dealer’s used car reserve price.
John Simpson, MD of Portfolio, said: ‘I would like to think that the growth of our working relationship, and the experience that we have gained over the last 3 years, will stand us in good stead as we continue to develop cutting edge, industry-leading retail marketing solutions’.
